George Sakkis wrote: > On Feb 22, 12:26 am, Jeff Schwab <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>> On the other hand, "a = b" does always the same thing; unlike C++, '=' >>> is not an operator and therefore it cannot be overriden by the class >>> of 'a'. >> "Not an operator?" Then what is it? > > In this context, it's just the token used for the assignment > statement. In short, if 'a' is an identifier, the statement means > "bind the name 'a' to the object 'b' (in the local or global > namespace)". It doesn't say anything about memory allocation, > initialization or copying. The only case where assigning an identifier > affects memory is the following [1]: > > """ > The name is rebound if it was already bound. This may cause the > reference count for the object previously bound to the name to reach > zero, causing the object to be deallocated and its destructor (if it > has one) to be called. > """ > > [1] http://docs.python.org/ref/assignment.html
OK, thanks for trying to make it clear. I'm about through with this discussion, but FWIW, this is a real gotcha for me and many others. This is a case where Python does not do what many programmers expect, and it at least takes some getting used-to. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
